Flooding Closes Roads in Illinois and Indiana

A serious flooding situation is under way in the Midwest, where roads were closed overnight Thursday and some cars have been caught under feet of water.

Flood warnings were issued for most of Chicago, as well as areas in eastern Illinois, northern Indiana and western Ohio on Friday morning as heavy rain caused problems across the region. In Chicago, several inches of rain fell overnight, forcing officials to close stretches of Interstate 90, according to MyFoxChicago.com. In Burbank, District 111 schools were closed Friday because of the floodwater.

"An upper-level disturbance moving along a stalled frontal boundary has brought thunderstorms with heavy rainfall to parts of Illinois and Indiana overnight and into this morning," said weather.com meteorologist Linda Lam. "There is plenty of moisture in the air and dew points are in the 70s, which has led to the intense rainfall. The risk of showers and thunderstorms continues through at least Saturday afternoon across the area."

Indiana has also experienced severe flooding from the system. A two-mile stretch of Interstate 69 in Grant County was closed due to floodwaters, and Blackford County Schools were closed for the day, according to TheIndyChannel.com.

Madison County Emergency Management Agency reported that trees and power lines are down and that some roads are too flooded for cars to pass.

"We're seeing water standing in areas we've never seen water stand before," Blackford County emergency management director Aaron Henderson told TheIndyChannel.com. "There's just nowhere for it to go."

Henderson said some homes and buildings were flooded. No injuries were reported.

Indiana State Police Sgt. Ron Galaviz said he didn't know how deep the water was on the well-traveled stretch of I-69, but he said no crashes or stranded motorists had been reported. Police are routing traffic onto nearby state highways to get around the flooding.

"Mother Nature's in charge of this thing, like it or not," he said.

Friday morning, areas near Hartford City, Indiana, reported more than 10.6 inches of rainfall. In lllinois, the state's highest total was in Sublette, where 4.78 inches of rain have been recorded.

At Chicago's Midway Airport, 3.95 inches of rain fell in a single hour, the heaviest one-hour rainfall rate in 34 years of records at the hub.